BYRON YORK — Something has been going on with Robert Mueller's investigation of people thought to have played significant roles in the Trump-Russia affair. The special counsel, assigned to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Trump," has been farming out seemingly important parts of the investigation to offices outside his own.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — In response to Democrats' charges of Trump treason at the Helsinki summit, conservative research groups have documented a series of the president's anti-Russia moves both economically and on the battlefield the past two years. The groups say President Trump has been tougher on Vladimir Putin than predecessor Barack Obama, who, along with his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, defended the Russian president during the "reset" era.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — The Defense Department approved a $200 million military aid package to Ukrainian forces on Friday, bringing the total amount of American weapons and equipment sent to support Kiev's fight against Russian-backed separatists in the country to $1 billion.... (more)

NEWSMAX — A federal judge in New York on Friday struck down a lawsuit filed by former state attorney general Eric Schneiderman against a coalition of Christian pro-lifers who had been accused of harassing patients, staff and family members outside an abortion clinic in New York City for years.... (more)

WASHINGTON EXAMINER — It would be nice to say you can think what you want about President Trump's trip to Europe over the last week, but the national media is doing its damnedest to make sure you don't by misrepresenting over and over again what exactly happened.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — President Trump insisted Wednesday that he has been tougher on Russia than his predecessors, outlining sanctions and other ways he's punished Moscow as the White House tried to quell the furor in Washington over the administration's response to Russian meddling in the 2016 election.... (more)

NEWSMAX — Alan Dershowitz said that Democrats and those calling President Donald Trump's performance in Helsinki an act of treason have gone "completely over the top," the noted law scholar and professor told conservative voice Hugh Hewitt on Thursday. "You might not like what Trump did. I didn't like what he did. But to call it treason is just wrong as a matter of constitutional law," Dershowitz said on Hewitt's radio show.... (more)

WASHINGTON EXAMINER — President Trump said Wednesday he'd accept the assessment from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats that Russian attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are ongoing, despite Trump publicly offering a range of opinions about the danger Kremlin-linked interference operations pose to the American political process.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — President Trump said Wednesday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is ultimately responsible for Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election, and that he warned Mr. Putin "we can't have this" meddling in the future.... (more)

WORLDNETDAILY — Democrats continue to ridicule Republican claims of political bias by social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google. At a congressional hearing on the issue Tuesday, Rep. David Cicillone, D-R.I., claimed, "There is no evidence that the algorithms of social networks or search results are biased against conservatives."... (more)

ART MOORE — The vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee is asking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to stop the retail giant's "sale of literature and music published by entities identified as 'hate groups' by the Southern Poverty Law Center."... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — Tim Allen of "Last Man Standing" let fans know this week -- with a smile -- that ABC couldn't keep him down. "Mike Baxter" and his family will soon be back on the airwaves to the delight of millions of fans. An extra bonus for those who protested ABC's sudden cancellation in May 2016, however, came with a teaser released Tuesday.... (more)

TWITTER — Lisa Page grilled on Capitol Hill... (more)

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — The state Supreme Court decided Wednesday that California will remain intact geographically, at least for now, while it decides whether the voters can consider a proposal to divide the Golden State into three new states. The three-state initiative, Proposition 9, had gathered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Nine days after opponents filed suit, the court issued a unanimous order removing the measure from the ballot and ordering further legal arguments on whether it should be placed on another ballot in 2020 or struck down altogether.... (more)

(YOUTUBE) — JFK researcher Jerry Kroth, author of two previous books on the Kennedy assassination, has released a new book (with a video) based on 50,000 secret documents newly released by President Trump that implicate Vice President Lyndon Johnson in the November 22, 1963, assassination. In his video, "The Kennedy Assassination: what really happened," Kroth says, "There are at least 80 huge revelations in this book that just came out. The media mentioned about six. The media missed virtually everything." Among his conclusions is that LBJ orchestrated a coup d' etat involving members of the CIA, the FBI, and the mafia that enabled him to illicitly gain the presidency of the United States, and then successfully covered up his involvement. [language alert]... (more)

BRYAN FISCHER — President Trump has been blistered, lampooned, reviled, and skewered over his performance in Helsinki, Finland. He has been raked over the proverbial coals by friend and foe alike for his supposed obsequious acquiescence to Vladimir Putin.... (more)

BYRON YORK — Was Russia's effort to interfere in the 2016 election the most important issue on the table at President Trump's Helsinki summit with President Vladimir Putin? No. But it's not an unimportant issue either, and Trump knew the American press is obsessed with it. So he knew it would play a big role in the Trump-Putin post-summit news conference.... (more)

THE HILL — Top conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus are defending President Trump's performance at the Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Members of the group applauded the president's diplomatic efforts, arguing the media has placed too much focus on his remarks at a post-summit press conference with Putin and not enough on his actions.... (more)

WASHINGTON TIMES — President Trump attempted Tuesday to douse the political firestorm over his kid-glove treatment of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Republican leaders were already preparing an end run around the White House with legislation to stop Moscow from meddling in U.S. elections again.... (more)

NATIONAL REVIEW — Seeking to constrain the fallout from President Trump's widely maligned press conference with Vladimir Putin, the White House stressed his past acceptance of the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered with the 2016 election in talking points distributed to congressional Republicans Monday evening.... (more)

NEWSMAX — Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan told Newsmax TV on Tuesday that President Donald Trump averted the "second Cold War" and Buchanan added a slam of the "absurd" fallout over misspoken comments at the press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.... (more)

NEWSMAX — President Donald Trump blasted former CIA director John Brennan as "a very bad person" in an interview to air Tuesday night -- even as he publicly declared that he's got "full faith and support for America's great intelligence agencies."... (more)

THE HILL — Lawmakers clashed Tuesday at a contentious hearing over claims that social media platforms and tech companies are biased against conservative viewpoints.... (more)

BY WES VERNON — Edward Griffin, in his Need to Know column, wrote that he has seen the film Revelation: Dawn of Global Government. Even though he himself was in a part of the movie, actually seeing the film in final form left him "stunned." When his commentary was joined by "scores of others who spoke from first-hand knowledge about the loss of liberty and the growth of government," the pieces came together like a giant jigsaw puzzle that revealed a disturbing picture of the social and political Hell that is rapidly approaching.... (more)

ALAN KEYES — Because Christ teaches using parables, people who learn from him gain an advantage. They are accustomed to remembering that things are not always what they seem, and to use their imagination to think beyond the apparent significance of a story for its additional meaning.... (more)